Andrew Robeson Jr.

Andrew Robeson Jr. (October 14, 1817 – July 23, 1874) was an American merchant.

Early life

Robeson was born on October 14, 1817, in New Bedford, Massachusetts.[1] He was a son of Andrew Robeson (1787–1862) and Anna (née Rodman) Robeson (1787–1848). His father, who was a native of Roxborough, Philadelphia, was a Quaker and Abolitionist, who became a prominent merchant and successful manufacturer in New Bedford under the name Messrs. Robeson & Sons.[2]

His paternal grandparents were Martha and Peter Robeson. His maternal grandparents were Elizabeth (née Rotch) Rodman (daughter of William Rotch) and Samuel Rodman, one of the wealthiest ship owners of New Bedford.[1]

Career

In 1839, he graduated with a degree in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia but chose a career in business instead. In 1840, he joined his father's firm "Andrew Robeson & Sons". From 1848 until his death, he was in charge of the Print Works at Fall River, Massachusetts and he was also involved in various interests in Boston.[3]

Personal life
Elm Court, the Robeson family home in Newport, Rhode Island

On March 2, 1843, Robeson was married to Mary Arnold Allen (1819–1903), a daughter of Eliza Harriet (née Arnold) Allen and Zachariah Allen, a prominent textile manufacturer.[4] A year after their marriage, they built a large granite mansion in Fall River situated "on the boundary line between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with three quarters of the residence situated in the former, and one quarter in the latter."[2] From 1862, he wintered in Boston and later retired to Tiverton, Massachusetts. In 1853, he built a summer home in Newport, Rhode Island which is known today as Elm Court. Together, they were the parents of four children, three of whom survived to adulthood:[3]

  • Andrew Robeson III (1843–1906), who married Abby Frances Knight,[5] a daughter of Leonard Knight and Elizabeth Curtis Johnson, in 1880.[6]
  • Harriet Allen Robeson (1845–1852), who died young.[4]
  • Alice Robeson (1849–1919),[7] who married Stephen Van Rensselaer Thayer, the eldest son of financier Nathaniel Thayer Jr. and grandson of Stephen Van Rensselaer IV,[8] in 1870.[4]
  • Mary Allen Robeson (1853–1919), who married Charles Sprague Sargent, a son of Boston merchant and banker Ignatius Sargent, in 1873.[4]

Robeson died in Tiverton on July 23, 1874.[3] He was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.[1] His widow died at Islesboro, Maine on July 25, 1903.[8]

Legacy and descendants

Through his son Andrew, he was a grandfather of auctioneer Andrew Robeson IV.[9]

Through his daughter Mary, he was a grandfather of Henrietta Sargent (1874–1953), who married architect Guy Lowell.

Through his daughter Alice, he was a grandfather of Stephen Van Rensselaer Thayer Jr. (1871–1907), who died in Vichy, France.[8][10]

In honor of Robeson and his wife, his daughter Alice commissioned Harry Eldridge Goodhue to create stained glass windows for Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Boston depicting Simeon and Anna.[11]

References
  1. Jones, Charles Henry (1886). Genealogy of the Rodman Family, 1620-1886. Allen, Lane & Scott. p. 198. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  2. "Black History Month, 2017 – Fall River Historical Society". lizzieborden.org. Fall River Historical Society. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  3. "Personal". Boston Evening Transcript. 25 July 1874. p. 4. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  4. Greene, George Sears (1903). The Greenes of Rhode Island: With Historical Records of English Ancestry, 1534-1902. Knickerbocker Press. p. 292. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  5. of 1905, Harvard College (1780-) Class (1915). Secretary's Third Report. Harvard University. p. 365. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  6. Revolution, Daughters of the American (1898). Lineage Book of the Charter Members of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Daughters of the American Revolution. p. 271. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  7. "DIED -- THAYER". The New York Times. 18 May 1919. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  8. Reynolds, Cuyler (1911). Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: A Record of Achievements of the People of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys in New York State, Included Within the Present Counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Washington, Saratoga, Montgomery, Fulton, Schenectady, Columbia and Greene. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 26. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  9. TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (7 August 1939). "ANDREW ROBESON; Member of an Old Boston Family Dies in Newport at 58". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  10. Times, Special to The New York (26 June 1907). "Stephen Van Rensselaer Thayer". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  11. "South Windows under Balcony". www.emmanuelboston.org. Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Boston. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
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